Sony announces new Xperia E1

Sony has introduced a new addition to its Xperia line of Android handsets with the Xperia E1. While undoubtedly entering the market somewhere in the middle, the Xperia E1 does appear to pack a little bit of a punch.

Sony has focused on the music features of the Xperia E1, with an integrated 100dB speaker on board to produce loud, clean sound that can hold its own in any environment, even against a motorcycle according to Sony’s press release. This will be welcome news for commuters who dislike listening to other people’s music on loudspeakers..

Besides this beefy speaker, the Xperia E1 also features Walkman controls for ease of music listening, allowing users to combine online and offline music in playlists, as well as varied playback controls and social features.

Besides the music focus, the Xperia E1 is essentially a 4″ smartphone featuring an 800 x 480 display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, 512 MB of RAM and 4GB of storage. The Xperia E1 supports the fastest varieties of HSPA, however it is not a 4G device.

The Xperia E1 will launch in three colours; black, white and purple. It seems likely this device will launch in Australia soon, but pricing and availability are TBA.

Chris Rowland Editor and Publisher

Chris has been at the forefront of smartphone reporting in Australia since smartphones were a thing, and has used mobile phones since they came with giant lead-acid batteries that were "transportable" and were carried in a shoulder bag. He saw the transition from AMPS to GSM, loved the Motorola StarTac, and got into Palm technologies in a big way. The arrival some years later of the original iPhone, and then the early Androids, awoke a new interest in mobile technology, and Chris has been writing about it since.

Today, Chris publishes one of Australia's most popular technology websites, Ausdroid. His interests include mobile (of course), as well as connected technology and how it can make all our lives easier.